Until The Last Leaf Falls
by Sparkling Dragon Tears
Summary: Oneshot. Until death and beyond, until the last leaf falls, I'll love you forever. W: Slash DH, char. death, sad story.


D/C: JKR Owns HP!!

Hey. This is long, but it is a oneshot.

Warnings: Char. death, sadness, slashiness.

Please, read and review.

Enjoy.  
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They sit out on the rolling hills, surrounded by the bright green grass. One tan boy holds his strong dark arms around the paler, fragile one. The wind is getting colder, as the summer days grow thin. His blonde hair flicks occasionally as the drafts catch it, calling the hair to dance with them, to dance like the dying leaves.

The pale turns his smooth face up to the rougher's. Their eyes meet, swirling together with emotions, for perhaps the last time. A chaste kiss sparks between them, showing that the flame wished to linger between them, no matter how the world around them chilled.

"Once I leave, will you still love me?" Draco asks in a desperate voice, his silver eyes shining like the moon through the tearful rain.

"You know I will." Harry answers, watching the flashing emotions swim in his partner's eyes.

"Even if I can't love you any more?" He whispers, afraid of the answer. His heart hesitates as no words are spoken.

"They'll change you." He answers instead. "They'll change who you are, how you think. You won't want me to love you, but I will." He runs rough fingers through the fine hair, gently, as if trying to catch the wind itself.

"How? How can you still feel for me, even knowing what I'll do? The mark does change people. I might not come back." He says softly, tears threatening to break from his red eyes, desperate to find freedom spilling across his cheeks.

"Because I know that this is you. Even if you don't come back, I'll love your memory, the times we've had. I won't forget you, even if you forget me." He replies, his voice soft as if he's reminiscing of something already lost.

"I'm sorry." Draco says, before burying his face into Harry's toned chest. He breathes in the scent, determined to embed it in his brain, as not to forget. Harry pulls him back though. He looks deep into the silver sparkling eyes, past them, into the tortured soul.

"I will love you until the last leaf falls from the trees on these hills. No matter what you do, remember that. Even if it's hidden away in your past, do not forget what I've said." He plants a short kiss on the pale forehead before standing and pulling his match up with him. They looked out across the lawn of Hogwarts, both in deep thought. Harry's arms held Draco as close as they could and their eyes skimmed the lush fields surrounded by trees.

Draco was to come home at the Christmas Holiday, perhaps even sooner. He was to be taken before the Dark Lord to be marked as his servant. He'd do everything his influential and powerful father told him to, otherwise he may be killed. But Harry had told him once, even in death he'd love him, so he was off to become a walking ghost. He'd die inside before he'd be killed.

The wind seemed to blow time right through their fingers. Before the two knew it, the dark hush fell over them and the stars mocked tears in their eyes, dotting the velvet sky as teardrops, hovering all around them. The castle lit up with glowing windows and a phantomly glow of magic. The two outside had blended into the dark and may as well have been shadows, they were so soft and quiet.

The emerald eyes on the dragon charm dangling from Draco's necklace began to glow. Soft at first, and growing until the light was as biting and bright as Harry's own eyes. The glow reflected in the silver orbs that watched it. Draco sighed, smooth air drifting from his lips into a wisp in the air.

"Harry." Draco stated, spinning in the warm embrace. He met lips once more, sending a shiver down his neck, and tears from his red-rimmed eyes. His tongue ran over every inch of Harry's mouth, tasting, memorizing. Harry pulled away and rested their foreheads together. Their breath mingled and mixed between them.

"I love you." Harry whispered, deep in his throat. The low voice held choked tears that refused to fall.

"Until death and beyond." Draco replied. He stepped back from Harry, trying to dry the nonstop tears on his sleeve. He closed his eyes and clutched the glowing pendant, and in a pop, he was whisked away.

Days were quiet as Harry lived out his final year at Hogwarts. Christmas came and went, and still Harry heard nothing from Draco. Was he training to be the best Death Eater he could, or had he already been killed by now? There was simply no way to tell. The New Year was coming quickly, and Harry didn't want to be around to see it. He was content with the year previous. Every second that he acknowledged passing, represented him growing further from his love, tearing away another piece of his heart each time he couldn't hear his voice or see his face. Growing more depressed and feeling older each second he couldn't touch the tight skin, feel the water-thin hair, smell the leather and silk scent with pure vanilla, or taste the salty flesh.

When the countdown began, he wasn't found in the Great Hall at the party. He was found roaming the cold, drafty hallways, listening to his footsteps echo in the silence. He looked to his watch and froze, looking out a window into the night, glancing back every few seconds to be sure he wasn't varying the natural ticking rhythm as he counted.

"Ten." The darkness wavered.

"Nine." The stars again mocked him. So warm in the cold of night.

"Eight." The Moon, grinning at him through the thin clouds, like Draco's eyes through the blonde hair.

"Seven." The horizon blending with the ground, like how he was almost unable to separate dreams from reality.

"Six." The dark trees rustlings with things unseen, and uncared about. The way the pair would do as they wished, with no one to comment on them.

"Five." Harry wished Draco was here to see the sky with him. To watch as they used to.

"Four." But time ticked by and kept going. It dragged Draco away and left Harry on his own.

"Three." Harry had promised though. He'd said even death wouldn't separate them; that he'd love Draco until the last leaf fell from the magical trees.

"Two." And there were so many trees. Not even the Reaper could kill every leaf.

"One." And time ticks by, leaving him alone.

"I love you Draco." Harry whispers to the dark, his breath fogging on the window pane, blurring his reflection and view of the world.

An explosion rocks the castle. Harry is jarred from his feet as the pale bricks seem to crumble beneath him. He runs to the stairs as fast as he can, hoping to escape. But the stairs have fallen and there are more explosions. Not the fireworks of a New Year. In fact, they seemed to mock the New Year. Smoke filled the great corridors of the school, and echoes of dying screams hit Harry's ears. He jumped a floor down as more bricks began to shift.

Nearly breaking his legs, he tumbles on the stone, bruising and bleeding as he goes. Shadows flicker along the walls from the torch lights. The men in masks glide through the building, destroying everything. Harry runs as best he can while injured, but he knows it's of no use. He catches a glimpse out another window and pauses. Time freezes around him as he watches in horror. Children flee into the dark night, but are stopped dead in their tracks by explosions of spells. The forest burns to the ground, lighting far less than a fire that size should. It flickers the limits of Hogwarts grounds, casting looming, dancing shadows over the fallen bodies, but the fires are so dark and evil, they shed no light for the grounds. Instead they burn the safe grasses and steal away the spirit in the trees, the lives of the creatures that live there and the magic of the school.

Harry's green eyes sparkle with the reflection of the golden flame. He watches the midnight glass crack as debris hits it. He can smell the leather and vanilla before he feels the cold breath at his neck.

"Harry Potter." He sneers, his silver eyes now a dull grey, like rain clouds too heavy to let the rain pour.

"Draco." He answers, sadness coating his words. He feels the polished wood at his throat and glances to the wand. "So you're going to kill me?" He asks, hoping Draco will come to his senses.

"Oh please, you knew I would. The past doesn't matter to me anymore. It's gone and never coming back. I'm here to kill you and rid of anything in the way of the Great Lord." His eyes were void of any emotion and he really meant what he said. Harry of course knew it would come to this. He knew long ago, the first time they'd kissed, the first utterance of _I love you._

"Any last words scar head?" he asked bored, as if it were a necessary thing to ask. The wand was jammed into his throat so he knew that Harry wouldn't try anything.

"Until death and beyond." He said softly, staring straight into Draco's eyes, wanting the boy to remember every second with him that felt like an age to Harry. Draco glared.

"_Avada Kedavada._" He growled, the light from his wand swallowing Harry in slow motion, the last thing to go being the light in his eyes, which seemed to almost absorb the spell. Harry fell limp to the ground, never to breath again, never to feel the cold, tight air on his flesh, never to kiss the loving lips of his partner. Never again to look into the moon and dream of the eyes that once held tears for him.

In a storm of hatred, as the fires and anger rage on, all seems lost. The children are dying, the magic is gone and all is evil and dark. The tang of burning hair and flesh reaches your nose and makes you want to vomit. Tears prick at your tender eyes, begging for release, but you won't give into them. Draco joins with the anti-army and watches the castle fall. The green eyes shine up at him from his necklace, scolding him, screaming at him, shouting and yelling at him for hurting Harry. He paid no attention though, instead, he laughs coldly and listens to muttered conversations from the Death Eaters. They poof away, and of course he follows.

During the night and dawning of the New Year, the dust settles and the fires rage on. The clouds condense and the sky rains it's tears onto the destroyed land. Once the fires are doused and the dust is weighed down amongst the ashes, the sky burns with the sun's red fury. It warns away anymore harm and screams to the world that danger is here.

Once the sun burns it's anger across the new day's sky, one lone man walks the rubble. His feet crack over the broken ground, and crunch the damp ashes. Ice crystals begin to form at the edges of fallen trees. His white-blonde hair brushes over his face in the bitter wind. The wind eats at his flesh, punishing him for the deaths, trying to make him numb with cold, void of feeling. His dull eyes wander over the mass ruin, not really taking in anything. He looks back to the forest and catches a glimpse of the shining eyes on his necklace.

Draco's heart skips a beat, as Harry's face flashes through his mind, the dragon's emeralds replaced by Harry's, if only for a moment. The smoldering trees are piles of ash, as far as the eye can see. Breath hitched in his throat, his heart begins to slam into his ribcage. He trembles as he walked into the no-longer forest. This much damage in less than twelve hours? How was that even possible?

He looks over the ash, skimming for any traces of colour along the ocean of grey. His eyes began to shimmer back into their moonlit glow as he realized that this land was as barren as he had been, as ruthless as he had been last night. He had killed, he wasn't even twenty and he had killed. His heart was throbbing, swallowing all feeling that he had and making his chest hurt. His throat burned with swallowed tears as he searched desperately for one flash of colour, one leaf among the disaster, even if it were a dead leaf, if it were still hanging on the magical trees, it could represent one piece of his love that he hadn't so carelessly discarded.

He wrapped his arms around his torso and felt his knees hit the soft ground. He shivered and squeezed his eyes shut, trying to deny last night. When his body could no longer hold in the force of the emotion, a sob escaped his throat. Tears smashed through the barriers and flooded over his pale cheeks. The warm trails were stung by the angry wind, turning cheeks rosy and making him feel numb, although his heart had taken good care with most of the numbness.

The wind caught a tear as it fell from his chin, and whisked it through the air, falling at an unnatural angle. He watched through blurry eyes as it fell to a pile of ash and seemed absorbed instantly. The wind picked up and cut right through him, making him tremble in fear and cold, in memories and pity, in anger and sorrow. Small specks of ash and dust were dragged into the air, sucked into the swirling wind patterns like fog, mixing with his breath. Once enough rose, he noticed a vague spot of colour in the grey world around him.

Brushing away tears fiercely, he blew on the spot, revealing more of the bright green. It stood out on the dark ground like Harry's eyes did in a crowd. It smiled up at him, clinging desperately to the short, broken, standing stick. The leaf was tiny and ripped, but clung all the same. Draco's heart released emotion in a wave across his body. Tears flushed from his eyes and rained down onto the tiny thing. Ash settled in his hair, dotting it like dark snow. Seeing that one leaf gave him the strength to stand, the strength to walk away, knowing that everything would be all right someday, this whole forest would grow back. Someday the creatures would return and maybe a new school would even be built. For now though, he had to go back to the Dark Lord and do as he was told.

Even as he grew older and the World changed, one thing remained the same and kept Draco hoping. He'd go back to the place of the leaf every day. He'd named the tiny, broken tree _Harry_. Time ticked by and he watched the tree grow and the new plants sprout around it, rebirthing from the ashes. He watched small beetles scuttle across the land, and grass turn the hills green once more. He never stopped coming to the leaf, and always spoke the same words before leaving.

"Until death and beyond, until the last leaf falls. I'll love you forever."

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Well? What did you think? I really liked it. I hope you did too!  
Please review.

Check out my new PotC oneshot too, if you have time. That one's a songfic.

Anyway, I hope you liked this.

Till next time,  
-J X


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